South African cardinal calls US abortion rate ‘a genocide’ for blacks

Cardinal Wilfrid F. Napier of Durban, South Africa, arrives for the morning session of the extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the family at the Vatican Oct. 14. (CNS photo/Paul Haring) See SYNOD-REACTION Oct. 14, 2014.

(RNS) A South African cardinal who recently rejected calls for the Catholic Church to apologize to gay people has said the abortion rate among black women in the U.S. is “a genocide” and added: “Isn’t this something we should be apologizing for?”

In a series of tweets late Friday (July 1), Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of Durban cited Guttmacher Institute estimates that there have been more than 57 million abortions in the U.S. since the Supreme Court legalized abortion in 1973.

“Isn’t this something we should be apologizing for?” Napier, one of the more active tweeters in the College of Cardinals, wrote in the first of three tweets on the topic.

“Isn’t that also something we should be apologizing for?” Napier wrote.

Napier was among those who deplored calls by some in the hierarchy who said, in the wake of last month’s shooting massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando, that the Catholic Church should also examine its conscience and apologize for bias against gays and lesbians.

“God help us! Next we’ll have to apologize for teaching that adultery is a sin! Political Correctness (PC) is today’s major heresy!” Napier tweeted.

That was several days before Pope Francis told journalists that the church should ask forgiveness from gay people for the way it has treated them.

A screen shot of a series of tweets by South African Cardinal Wilfrid Napier

David Gibson is a national reporter for RNS and an award-winning religion journalist, author and filmmaker. He has written several books on Catholic topics. His latest book is on biblical artifacts: "Finding Jesus: Faith. Fact. Forgery," which was also the basis of a popular CNN series.